The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 8.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,616 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 4,820 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $5,022,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 4,810 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,548 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,402 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,257 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 635 shares during the period. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 7,158 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $589,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $90.22 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $99.16 billion, a PE ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $76.96 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.30.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.00.

About Southern

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations.

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